U.S. Policy Toward Iran and Russia

The Jihadists and the Militant Fundamentalist Progressives

By David J. Jonsson

Saturday, May 26, 2007

After September 11, Bush explained that the attacks showed that the friend of your enemy is also your enemy. As he put it last September, "America makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror, and those that harbor and support them, because they're equally guilty of murder."

Bush failed to note the converse of that reality: the enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend and allay. Here the distinction generally relates to Sunnis and Shiites. We fail to grasp that just because Shiites and Sunnis are rivals don't mean that they will join forces with the U.S. to fight one another, or won't join forces with one another to fight the U.S. to accomplish their goal of establishing the Islamic kingdom of God and return the caliphate. This and the failure to recognize the goals of Russia have and will continue to cause the Americans no end of difficulty. We also fail to recognize that that these forces have also joined with the Leftists.

There is an Arab saying to the effect that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." While this may be the standard for many countries in the Middle East, it is not the standard by which a democratic nation like the United States can afford to operate.

Equally important is to recognize that Russia and China are also linked with mutual interests – world domination and that Russia is neither the friend of the EU or the U.S.

Unfortunately, these forces have combined into the alliance of the Leftist/Marxist and Islamists – with the common goal of world domination.

The Islamist in seeking to establish the "Islamic kingdom of God on earth," not necessary though military might but through gradual Islamization including economic means as described in my article: Islamic Economics and Shariah Law: A Plan for World Domination.

Without diminishing the threat posed by the near term events in the Middle East, it is important nonetheless to recognize that they are a distraction, a deliberate provocation designed to keep our eyes focused on the wrong enemy. The true threat is and always has been the worldwide communist movement joined by Islamists, spearheaded by Russia, and Communist China. While the Iraq and Iran crises continues, the strategy of The Grand Chess Masters--The Bear and the Dragon, along with their pawns the Leftists, Marxists and Islamists, continue to develop and put in place their strategy for the ultimate goal of world domination.

We have lived for some years of peace following the 'End of the Cold War' and we are now facing the prospect of moving to a disordered world from which the West cannot hide.

Wrong Question: Why do Islamists Hate America?

Many propagandists of the Leftist/Marxist – Islamist Alliance are using all efforts to attempt to question why the Islamist hates America. While it is true that the hedonistic life style of the Leftists runs counter to the Shariah law, many Leftists are drawn into the support of the Islamist movement. It should also be noted that Bible believing Christians and Jews do not support the hedonistic life style of the Leftists.

Counter to question of "Why do they hate us?" one has to ask the question: "What is the goal of Islam?" Islam, from its very beginning, and the teaching of Muhammad was and is to create the Islamic kingdom of God on Earth. Their desire for this kingdom is to be a kingdom ruled by a caliph under Shariah law where all non-believers--infidels are subservient to Muslims. It has been said by many apologists for Islam, that Christians and Jews lived together peacefully under Islamic rule for 500 years. This was true, but only as dhimmis living in servitude to Islamic rule. The Islamists and their Leftist propagandists wish to have us believe this is the way to peace.

The Jihadists drive to instill Islamic law into Muslim society, and ultimately recreate that society under their interpretation of the law, which often translates into an endorsement for violent jihad as practiced by bin Laden and others. Ideology is often overlooked and is considered separate from the strategic and operational aspects of Islamist militancy. The ideology of this movement is similar to, or even worse than, the Nazi ideology, and that it should be dealt accordingly. Therefore, I still believe that one of the primary missions of the international community today is to repeat its experience with Nazism and to deal with this dangerous barbarian culture exactly as it dealt with the Nazi culture. If this does not happen, the near future is liable to bring many events, the consequences of which will be far more severe for all of humanity than the consequences of World War II.

Iran's Nuclear Weapons

I support U.S. and the EU in their effort to cause Iran to give up their Nuclear Weapons program. Relations with Iran are too vital to the security and prosperity of all of us to be developed individually and ad hoc. If there is one country toward which Europeans -- and, indeed, the entire West -- should share a common foreign policy, it is Iran. With high world energy prices allowing Iran to emerge as a world power, now is the time for a clear-sighted reckoning of European and world security in the face of Iran's renewed power. Relying on Iran's long-term systemic problems to curb its pressure tactics will not prevent President Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs from reestablishing Iran's hegemony in the short run. On April 26, Mitt Romney was in New York where he spoke at a dinner for the business school of Yeshiva University. During the speech, the presidential hopeful likened Iran's president to Adolf Hitler.

He focused his speech on defining his foreign policy, which includes becoming energy independent, spending more money on defense and keeping Iran from developing nuclear weapons. He said Iran and its leader are threats to Israel.

Iran's president has called the Holocaust a "myth" and said Israel should be "wiped off the map." Moreover, now is a moment of maximum flexibility, because dependence on Iran's energy supplies will only continue to grow.

Hezbollah's ability to withstand relentless bombardment from the Israeli army and to keep its sweeping forces at bay in the Second Lebanon War (July/August 2006) impressed the whole Arab and Muslim world.

In their eyes, Hezbollah did what five Arab armies combined failed to do when they lost the 1967 War that led to Israel's capture of the West Bank.

Frustrated by what they see as the frozen peace process, ongoing Israeli hostile policies against the Palestinians, as well as American occupation of Iraq, scores of young men have found in Hezbollah's achievement an antidote to years of foreign oppression.

While many are aware that Iran and Syria are the puppeteers of the militia group, their support of the Shi'ite Hezbollah remains steadfast.

Reports suggest that Sunnis were so inspired by Hezbollah's "historical victory," as the movement leader Hasan Na'srallah called it, that they have converted to Shi'ism (to turn from Sunni to Shi'ite is something frowned upon, politically and religiously, in a Sunni dominated region).

For example in Jordan, activists from the Muslim Brotherhood movement, known for its historical allegiance to the regime, are rumored to have turned to Shi'ism. Reports also mention conversions among dozens of families from impoverished towns and refugee camps including A-Salt, Al-Wahdat and Al-Baqa' refugee camps, as well as the heavily populated city of A-Zarqa, the hometown of former Al Qa'ida leader, Abu Mu's'ab A-Zarqawi.

Misplaced trust in "Moderate" Muslims

As for the Arab world, the administration believes that since the Arabs oppose Iran's quest to become a regional nuclear power, they will help the U.S. both in stabilizing Iraq and in preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Common agendas do not make for allies.

The Administration has been advancing the vision of an anti-Iranian coalition which would join forces to seek a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestine conflict, the Iraq war and confront Iran thus eliminating the nuclear threat.

There has been no rational basis for this view since the Saudis, Egyptians and Jordanians responded last year to Iran's nuclear advances by announcing that they will get their own nukes. See: Nuclear Proliferation--Options In A Perfect Storm. But it took the recent diplomatic cavalcade in Saudi Arabia to finally destroy the fantasy.

There was the Hamas-Fatah summit in Mecca where Abdullah undermined the U.S. by promising to pay Hamas terrorists a billion dollars in exchange for their agreement to let Fatah terrorists be their junior partners in government.

Since that summit according to Israel National News, Hamas Issues Islamic Call For Genocide on PA Television. "While Hamas has sought, since its Mecca Agreement with Fatah,�to strike a moderate tone in order to renew international funding, it continues the calls for genocide of Jews."

The Hour – the Islamic resurrection and end of days – is dependent on the killing of Jews by Muslims.

The remaining Jews will unsuccessfully attempt to hide, but the rocks and trees will expose them, calling out "there is a Jew behind me, kill him!"

"Palestine… will be liberated through the rifle," meaning that Israel will be destroyed through violence.

The Hamas spokesman ended his sermon with a prayer to Allah to "take" Israel and the USA.

And according a report by MERI on May 9: Hamas Al-Aqsa TV: A Mickey Mouse Character Teaches Children About the Islamic Rule of the World And to 'Annihilate the Jews'

If that wasn't sufficient proof that Abdullah is not a friend, there was his warm and fuzzy love-fest with Ahmadinejad. Their meeting shocked Israeli, American and British intelligence services, who perceived it as the culmination of a progressive Saudi estrangement from the US. It was preceded by a massive expansion of Saudi ties with China and Russia.

Any notion that the U.S. could expect assistance from the Arabs in contending with Iran disintegrated a week later when Abdullah and Mubarak enthusiastically signed onto the Arab League and Iranian statement referring to the U.S. presence in Iraq as an "illegal occupation."

The actions of the Pelosi Democrats in the U.S. Congress actions on Iraq funding has also emboldened the Iranians and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia making an unprecedented public attack on America, condemning the "foreign occupation" of Iraq by his oldest ally. In the article: Evil Americans, Poor Mullahs: published in Spiegel online March 29, 'Forty-eight percent of Germans think the United States is more dangerous than Iran, a new survey shows, with only 31 percent believing the opposite. Germans' fundamental hypocrisy about the U.S. suggests that it's high time for a new bout of re-education--The German political establishment, which will no doubt loudly lament the result of the poll, is largely responsible for this wave of anti-Americanism.' On the Iranian's wish list is the annihilation of Israel. See also: Will Arab Muslim "Allies" Support the West in a Time of Crisis?

In April the 5th Cairo Conference: The International Campaign Against US & Zionist Occupation was held. This conference brought together the Leftist/Marxist – Islamist Alliance in support in Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon. The goal included Building bridges between the Left and Islamic movements against Imperialism and Globalization. See: Towards an International Alliance against Imperialism and Zionism Thursday 26 April 2007

Widening and deepening of collaboration between Islamic resistance movements and the struggles of the Left in the Arab region and internationally (Studying the different experiences in Lebanon, Egypt, Europe, etc.)

Political advocacy against all forms of racial discrimination against Arab and Moslem minorities in the West and linking that discrimination to the imperialist agenda.

Linking the struggle against colonialism and racism on the one hand and the struggle against capitalist globalization and new liberalism on the other. Challenging the notion of clash of civilizations or religions etc.

Linking the rising movements of the left in Latin America with the antiwar movements on the one hand and the resistance movements and nationalist forces in the Arab region on the other.

Call for the organization of a conference that joins the forces of Arab Left and the Islamic resistance movements in the Arab region to coordinate efforts of their national and democratic struggles.

The Appeasement of the Muslim Brotherhood

Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen writing in the American Thinker: The Muslim Brotherhood's Duping of America commented:

Making the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) a major player in Middle East politics seems to be one of the few subjects on which both Democrats and Republicans seem to agree. Neither the State Department nor the White House commented after U.S. House Majority Leader Stanley Hoyer met in Egypt with the Muslim Brotherhood's parliamentarian leader, Mohammed Saad el-Katatni. Hoyer and el-Katani discussed recent developments in the Middle East, and the "Brotherhood's vision."

This meeting took place just one day after the conclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood 5th Cairo Conference: The International Campaign Against US & Zionist Occupation, in which delegations from Hizbollah and Hamas took part. The participants cheered as Muslim Brotherhood General Guide Muhammad Mahdi 'Akef declared, "the devil Bush and his allies were now the ones sowing terror and aggression worldwide."

Note the similarity to Chavez's comments reported by CNN on September 21, 2006: Chavez: Bush 'devil'; U.S. 'on the way down'. "The devil came here yesterday," Chavez said, referring to Bush, who addressed the world body during its annual meeting Tuesday. "And it smells of sulfur still today."

Chavez accused Bush of having spoken "as if he owned the world" and said a psychiatrist could be called to analyze the statement.

"Sen. Robert Byrd compares Bush to Hermann Goering and the Nazis. Hillary Clinton accuses him of "turning back the clock on the 20th century ... systematically weakening the democratic tradition. ... There has never been an administration more intent upon consolidating and abusing power." Sen. Ted Kennedy charges that "no president in America's history has done more damage to our country than George W. Bush.""

"Whether it realizes this or not, the Bush administration is facing a kind of liberal-Islamic alliance: a sympathetic relationship that leading leftists in America have with Islamic radicals around the world. I'm not suggesting the two groups actually like each other. Actually, they despise each other. Leftists like Pelosi, Barney Frank and Michael Moore despise bin Laden and his fellow radicals because they are religious fundamentalists who want to impose Islamic [Shariah] holy law. That means goodbye to women's rights and gay rights and, in all candor, goodbye to people like Pelosi, Frank and Moore. By the same token, Islamic radicals like bin Laden detest the American left because, as they see it, the left is the party of atheism, family breakdown and cultural depravity. The left is in the vanguard of imposing secularism and libertine social values not only in America but also abroad."

"But the man who threatens the Islamic radicals and the American left even more than either group threatens the other is Bush. Leftists don't like radical Muslims like bin Laden but they absolutely hate Bush. Why?

"Because from the Cultural left's point of view, bin Laden threatens to impose Shariah in Baghdad but Bush threatens to impose Shariah in Boston. Bin Laden is the far enemy but Bush is the near enemy."

Akef called on the Arabs and Muslims to continue terrorist attacks against the U.S. and Israel "until they withdraw completely from the Middle East." Akef reassured his followers that "the jihad will lead to smashing Western civilization and replacing it with Islam which will dominate the world," according to a translation by Jonathan D. Halevi, director of Orient Research Group.

The failure to hold the PA accountable since its inception only encouraged Palestinian corruption and violence, and facilitated Hamas' rise to power. Now, dependence on Saudi oil and investments seem to push the U.S. and the international community to accept demands to legitimize Hamas, thereby establishing MB reign over the Palestinians.

From the article on Hamas at Discover the Networks we note that: Hamas has a close working relationship with Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terror organization that is�one of Hamas' major suppliers of weaponry.�Hamas is best known for using�violent methods�-- including suicide bombings against Israeli military and civilian targets�-- to destroy�Israel and replace it with�an Islamic Palestinian state.�

The Hamas Charter, written in 1988, puts forth "The Slogan of the Hamas," which reads as follows: "Allah is�its goal, the Prophet its model, the Qur'an its Constitution, Jihad its path, and death for the case of Allah its most sublime belief." The Charter says that jihad, or holy war,�"becomes an individual duty binding on every Muslim man and woman; a woman must go out and fight the enemy even without her husband's authorization, and a slave without his masters' permission."

The Hamas Charter explicitly abjures negotiated settlements as mechanisms for peaceful coexistence: "There is no other solution for the Palestinian problem other than jihad. All the initiatives and international conferences are a waste of time and a futile game." According to the Charter, those against whom jihad is to be directed are the Jews. "The Nazism of the Jews," it says, "does not skip women and children, it scares everyone. They make war against people's livelihood, plunder their moneys and threaten their honor." Hamas seeks to fulfill the Qur'anic scripture which reads: "The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!"

In March 2005,�FBI Director Robert Mueller stated,�"Of all the Palestinian groups,�Hamas has the largest presence in the United States with a strong infrastructure … [and] is theoretically capable of facilitating acts of terrorism in the United States." In October 2005 an FBI counterterrorism agent in New York affirmed Mueller's assertions, stating "We have information Hamas agents have been on U.S. soil the past few years and that the group may currently have up to 100 agents operating inside America."� According to terrorism expert Steven Emerson, "Hamas has an extensive infrastructure in the U.S. mostly revolving around the activities of fundraising, recruiting and training members, directing operations against Israel, organizing political support and operating through human rights front groups. … [I]t has the capability of carrying out attacks in America if it decided to enlarge the scope of its operations."

Democrats and Republicans alike are only deluding themselves in believing that negotiations with the MB and their terrorist offspring will alter their drive to establish a global Caliphate.

Toronto Marxism-Festival of Resistance

Lest we believe that the Leftist – Islamist Alliance conferences only take place in Cairo, consider the "Marxism-Festival of Resistance" which took place in Toronto May 10-13. The conference is designed officially to unite Islamists with the radical Left. Interestingly the key speakers include Islamists, Peace and Justice activists, and Global Warming activists. They can all still rally around a slogan like "Out of Iraq and into Kyoto." The opening meeting, Building Unity--Muslims and the Left included speakers Zafar Bangash – Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, Peter Leibovitch-Peace and Justice activist, Wahida Valiante-National vice-president, Canadian Islamic Congress, James Clark-Leading member, International Socialists, While in a parallel session the title was – How to stop capitalism from destroying the planet. The speakers included: Ted Glick-Project coordinator, Climate Crisis Coalition; author, Future Hope: A Winning Strategy for a Just Society, Kim Fry - Long time environmental activist; member, Alliance for Social Change, John Bell-Member, Stop Climate Chaos - Toronto; and Socialist Worker columnist.

The U.N. Marxist/Leftist Committee on Sustainable Development

Interestingly, this weekend, we learned the chairmanship of the U.N. Committee on Sustainable Development - Division for Sustainable Development - Department of Economic and Social Affairs will be going to Zimbabwe, "Comrade Bob" Mugabe's African paradise and a Vice Chair to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The group started by Maurice Strong. This is the group behind the Agenda 21 and the IPCC report on Global Warming.

"The CSD-15 session concluded on 11 May 2007. The new Chair is H.E. Mr. Francis Nhema, Minister of Environment and Tourism (Zimbabwe) Vice-chairs: Mr. Juan Mario Dary (Guatemala); Mr. Javad Amin Mansour (Islamic Republic of Iran); and Mr. Daniel Carmon (Israel). The representative of the Eastern European Group is forthcoming."

"The Division for Sustainable Development provides leadership and is an authoritative source of expertise within the United Nations system on sustainable development. It promotes sustainable development as the substantive secretariat to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and through technical cooperation and capacity building at international, regional and national levels. The context for the Division's work is the implementation of Agenda 21, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the Barbados Program of Action for Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States."

Agenda 21 is a massive eco-social manifesto for the whole world. Agenda 21 is the mammoth documents adopted at the UN's 1990�in Rio de Janeiro that proposes to micromanage and regulate the lives of "every person on earth."

To save Mother Earth and incidentally the worship Gaia, Agenda 21 argues that the UN must oversee strict regulation of our planet's atmosphere, lakes, streams, rivers, coastal waters, wetlands, oceans, forests, jungles, grasslands, deserts, tundra, mountains, urban areas, rural areas, health care, education, nutrition, agriculture, labor, production, consumption - in short, everything. The most accessible version of the document to come out following the Rio summit was published under the title AGENDA 21: The Earth Summit Strategy to Save Our Planet (Earthpress, 1993). Edited by environmental-activist attorney Daniel Sitarz and enthusiastically endorsed by Earth Summit chief Maurice Strong, the book provides a powerful, if unintended, indictment of the UN treaty.

Ch�vez Embraces Tehran

We can talk about ICBMs and all the other weapons being provided by Russia and China around the world. At the bottom line, the involvement of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian's close relations with Chavez in Venezuela, his relations with Cuba and Nicaragua, places the threat just 90 miles from the shores of America. And, this relationship is supported by the Leftists with the likes of Chindy Shaheen and the anti-war activist organizations including Code Pink and United for Peace and Justice, and radical environmental organizations including Oxfam, Global Exchange and the RainForest Action Network. These groups have intent of destroying America from the inside. See: Global Threats Leading to the Leftist/Marxist -- Islamist Takeover.

The embrace by Ch�vez is of concern to Jews in Venezuela according to the article from the Financial Times of May 15: Unease among Venezuelan Jews as Ch�vez embraces foe in Tehran.

Jewish traders from Curacao arrived in Jewish settlement in Coro in 1827. In 1855 almost all left after a mob ransacked their shops and homes.

That history aside, Venezuela's Jews say the country has traditionally stood out in the region for its lack of anti-Semitism. But in recent years they have watched with growing unease as President Hugo Ch�vez has warmly embraced the government of Iran, which last year hosted a Holocaust denial conference and let loose a volley of scathing verbal attacks against Israel.

Jewish leaders say relations between the community and the government is at a historic low. Rabbi Pynchas Brener, chief rabbi of Caracas's Ashkenazi Jews, says: "This is the worst I've seen the situation here in 40 years."

Mr Ch�vez's closeness to Tehran has even become a source of tension between Caracas and Buenos Aires. Argentina is seeking nine Iranian officials, including Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former president, in connection with the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, in which 85 people were killed. The Argentine government accuses Tehran of having planned the bombing, and Lebanon's Hizbollah of carrying it out.

At the same time, Mr Ch�vez, a radical leftist who casts himself as a political counterweight to President George W. Bush in the Americas, has strengthened ties with anti-US allies such as Iran and Syria.

Mr Ch�vez has distanced himself from statements by Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, Iran's president that the Holocaust was fiction and that Israel should be destroyed but few Jews in Caracas feel reassured.

Up to one-fifth of the Jewish population has left since Mr Ch�vez took office in 1999, and the community is nervous about releasing numbers for fear it will be seen as a lack of commitment to Venezuela and could affect the 15,000-20,000 who remain.

Sammy Eppel, a Jewish commentator, says: "They're not burning synagogues or persecuting people on the streets but there is officially sanctioned anti-Semitism. The Venezuelan people aren't anti-Semitic. This is being directed by a few activists."

Least we forget Citgo Petroleum is a subsidiary of the state owned Petr�leos de Venezuela. The state-owned company has proved reserves of 77.2 billion barrels of oil -- the most outside the Middle East -- and about 150 trillion cu. ft. of natural gas. PDVSA's exploration and production take place in Venezuela, but the company also has refining and marketing operations in the Caribbean, Europe, and the US. Subsidiary CITGO Petroleum supplies gasoline to some 13,000 US retail outlets. PDVSA also makes Orimulsi�n, a coal alternative made from bitumen.

On May 1, Thousands of Venezuelan workers stormed foreign-operated oil fields in the country Tuesday to celebrate the nationalization of the world's fifth-largest oil industry, timed to coincide with the traditional workers' holiday May Day.

"Today is the end of that era when our natural riches ended up the hands of anyone but the Venezuelan people," said President Hugo Chavez Tuesday evening in a speech. "The nationalization of Venezuela's oil is now for real."

The nationalization, decreed by leftist Chavez in February, comes as Venezuela on Monday evening said it would pull out of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Chavez called the development agencies "instruments of US imperialism."

Venezuela's oil nationalization plan parallels Bolivia's steps last year to commandeer tighter control of its natural gas resources.

Last year on May 1, Bolivian President Evo Morales - a close ally and friend of Chavez - made a surprise move, decreeing a nationalization of the small Andean country's natural gas reserves, the second largest in South America after Venezuela's.

The Bolivian government renegotiated contracts with foreign companies, boosting state revenues for Morale's own social programs.

Another Chavez ally, Ecuador President Rafael Correa, has warned that his oil-rich country plans to review all contracts for oil exploration on its territory and may cancel some deals.

Financing of Terror and Anti-Americanism

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that bans foreign countries to create international oil and gas organizations on the principle of OPEC. Amendments to the first antimonopoly law of the USA - The Sherman Act adopted in 1890- allow American Office of Public Prosecutor to prosecute foreign states, which have violated this law.

Russian MFA official representative Mikhail Kaminin in connection with this bill stated that Russia thinks it is the sovereign right of every country to establish cartel organizations in oil and gas. The Russian diplomat underlined it is not the first time when the United States tries to extend power of its laws "outside his national territory".

First Iran offered to create an organization of natural gas exporting countries on the principle of OPEC. This country, as well as Russia, Qatar, Algeria and several more other states that discussed in April perspectives of such an organization, produce 42 percent of world gas and have more than 70 percent of world gas resources. Norway is one of those gas producing few countries, which strongly criticized the initiative of gas OPEC.

Strong negative reactions were aroused in the United States concerning such plans. American congressmen sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Particularly, they demanded to inform Russia that creation of the gas cartel will be viewed as a deliberate threat to the U.S. and the gas OPEC itself – nothing else than a "global organization on extortion and racketing," RIA "Novosti" reports.

Indeed, a recent Center for Strategic and International Studies report estimates that Germany will depend on Russia for 80 percent of its gas imports -- compared with 44 percent today -- once the proposed trans-Baltic pipeline is completed. Unfortunately, political leaders usually have the least idea of what to do when the scope for action is greatest. By the time they have a better idea, the moment for decisive and effective action may have passed. In the 1930s, for example, the French and British governments were too unsure of Hitler's objectives to act. Today we know Iran's and also Russia's objectives. But their obsession with Hitler's motives was utterly misguided. Realpolitik should have taught them that Germany's relations with its neighbors would be determined by relative power, not German intentions alone. A large and strong Germany bordered to the east by small and weak states would have been a threat no matter who ruled in Berlin.

The Western powers should thus have spent less time assessing Hitler's motives and more time counterbalancing Germany's strength. Once Germany rearmed, Hitler's real intentions would be irrelevant. This was Winston Churchill's message throughout his "wilderness years." But instead of heeding Churchill, the British and the French continued to treat Hitler as a psychological problem, not a strategic danger -- until it was too late. What matters in diplomacy is power, not the state of mind of those who wield it.

For most of the past 15 years, the response to Russian and Iranian actions by the United States and Europe has been driven by their perceptions of Russian move to capitalism and possible reform in Iran. Western policy seems to be based on the premise that peaceful evolution can be ensured by democracy. Western diplomacy has thus seen its main task as strengthening Iran's reform movement and appeasement with both countries.

Russia and Iran both present a threat to world peace and must be dealt with. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe would raise the risk of "mutual destruction". His suggestion on April 26 that Russia could suspend membership of the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty was met with "grave concern" by Nato.

Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the agreement was one of the cornerstones of European security.

Russia's growing financial muscle at home and abroad focuses on Gazprom, its biggest company, and to many in the west a tool of the Kremlin's expansionist ambitions

The Russians insist this is just a normal commercial organization going about its business of selling energy supplies to make money. But critics see this partly state-owned group as a sinister instrument of the Kremlin's attempts to use energy as a tool of foreign policy.

According to the Financial Times on May 14, Moscow eyes tighter grip on energy routes, "Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have called for a new pipeline to be built along the coast of the Caspian Sea to carry additional Central Asian natural gas exports north into Russia in a move that would tighten Moscow's control over energy routes out of the region."

The Russia – China Cabal

In my article of November 26: The Grand Chess Masters: The Bear and the Dragon, I commented that: "While the Iraq crisis continues, the strategy of the Grand Chess Masters--Russia the bear and China the dragon along with their pawns the Leftists, Marxists and Islamists continue to develop and put in place their strategy for the ultimate goal of world domination."

"Two recent items reveal Moscow's intentions. First, President Vladimir Putin has announced that he is suspending Russia's commitment to follow the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty (CFE). This means that Russia can move tank and motorized infantry divisions to NATO's doorstep. Second, Russian radio news broadcasters have been ordered to make 50 percent of their reporting on Russia "positive," and that the United States is – from now on – to be described as Russia's enemy."

"President Putin's intentions are clear. The Cold War is to be renewed. America is the "main enemy" once again. It has been my contention, for many years, that this was the KGB's intention from the outset. The collapse of Communism was a staged event. It was a repeat of Lenin's New Economic Policy of the 1920s, in which Russia pretended to liberalize and move toward capitalism, drawing investment and technology from the West. I believe that the political process in Russia, from 1989 to the present, was guided to this end. In 1989 America's leaders could not see the Kremlin's intentions because intentions are invisible to the naked eye. And so America's leaders were fooled. Now Russia and China will emerge together as "one clenched fist," and their intention is to smash America."

Russia's Increased Support of Syria

According to the Middle East Newsline report of May 5, Syria Advances Military Exercise Schedule, Syria has advanced its military schedule in what could signal plans for war with Israel in 2007. Officials said Syria has decided to conduct a series of major military exercises in May through July. They said the decision was meant to accelerate preparations for a war against Israel in the summer of 2007.

"Syria is now in the middle of an unprecedented process of a huge military buildup," Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said. "They have acquired state-of-the-art Russian weapons, huge quantities of long-range rockets and missiles."

Officials said Syria was close to concluding negotiations to purchase advanced anti-aircraft systems from Russia. They said the systems could include the S-300PMU1 air and missile defense system as well as the TOR-M1 mobile short-range anti-aircraft battery.

On a 24-hour visit to Israel on April 26, Cohen, who served as defense chief under President Bill Clinton from 1996 until 2000, met on Thursday with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni for talks on the looming Iranian nuclear threat and other regional issues.

Cohen arrived in Israel Wednesday night after visiting a number of Gulf states, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai, as well as Jordan. Cohen said that during his talks with leaders in those counties he heard "sentiments" acknowledging that Iran was the greatest threat to stability in the Middle East and no longer Israel. Cohen visited Israel as secretary of defense in 2000.

"They understand that Iran is a threat to them all," he said. "There is a convergence of interest evolving and you can find that Israel is not being seen as the adversary."

With Iran funding Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, there was a need to focus on the "center" when looking to find the catalyst for instability in the Middle East, Cohen said.

"The prospect of Iran getting nuclear weapons changes the dynamics in the region with great impact for rest of world," he said. "We try to seek ways that the Gulf states can cooperate with the US. They are not yet ready to announce diplomatic relations with Israel but the sentiment is shifting and they understand that Iran is the major threat to them and not Israel."

Sojourners Support for Iran

Many have asked prior to WWll during the rise of Hitler. They ask: How could the church support the Nazi Movement? We are witnessing similar events in the U.S. and Europe today in the Leftist/Marxist – Islamist Alliance agenda. For example, we have such organizations as the United for Peace and Justice backed by Jim Wallis author of God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It and his Sojourners doing just that. We are seeing the propaganda pieces such as the PBS special on April 24– Buying the War by Bill Moyers who wrote the Forward to Jim Wallis's book.

The appeasement movement of the Leftists' is well represented by a recent delegation by representatives of Sojourners and other members of a diverse group of "Christian" leaders including United Methodists, Episcopal, Baptists, Catholics, Evangelicals, Quakers, and Mennonites meeting with the Iranian president and Iranian religious leaders.

A prepared statement was read at a briefing conference on February 26: U.S. Religious Leaders Find Hope in Iran, Report on Meeting with Iranian President, Religious Leaders from the Sojourners website "Jeff Carr, Chief Operating Officer for Sojourners/Call to Renewal, returns from trip with plea for "true and lasting" peace with Iran"

The Prepared Statement includes: "Our final day included a meeting with former President Khatami and current President Ahmadinejad. The meeting with President Ahmadinejad was the first time an American delegation had met in Iran with an Iranian president since the Islamic revolution in 1979.�� The meeting lasted two-and-a-half hours and covered a range of topics, including the role of religion in transforming conflict, Iraq, nuclear proliferation, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."�

"What the delegation found most encouraging from the meeting with President Ahmadinejad was a clear declaration from him that Iran has no intention to acquire or use nuclear weapons, as well as a statement that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be solved through political, not military means. He said, "I have no reservation about conducting talks with American officials if we see some goodwill."

In Islam we have the first example of what an apocalyptic group can achieve when given a limited time frame to accomplish an impossible task: world conquest. They almost made it. Since the most revolutionary idea present in fundamentalist Islam is that modern Muslims are reenacting the situation of the Prophet Muhammad during the seventh century and that all of the rest of the world, including the so-called Muslim countries, are infidel. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the feeling that an apocalyptic-jihad is necessary to correct things is very strong.

Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu Comments on the Similarity to Events Preceding World War ll.

"It's 1938 and Iran is Germany. And Iran is racing to arm itself with atomic bombs," Netanyahu told delegates to the annual United Jewish Communities General Assembly, repeating the line several times, like a chorus, during his address. "Believe him and stop him," the opposition leader said of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "This is what we must do. Everything else pales before this."

"Bernard Lewis, the influential Princeton scholar of Islam, claimed earlier Mr. Ahmadinejad and a powerful coterie around him actually wanted to provoke nuclear conflict as a means of hastening the arrival of the Mahdi, the Muslim messiah. "It would seem that he and his immediate circle really believe that the apocalyptic age is now," he told an audience at Tel Aviv University." … "Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies set the tone at the turn of the year with publication of its annual strategic balance, in which it warned: "Time is working in Iran's favor and, barring military action, Iran's possession of nuclear weapons is only a matter of time." Reference: Financial Times, January 12, 2007, Israel braced for action.

While Iran is developing WMD and forming alliances throughout the world including Cuba just 90 miles off the coast of America, Russia and China are providing arms for the alliance and equally important Russia is finalizing the energy noose around Europe. The Islamists along with their Leftist/Marxist alliance partners meanwhile are quietly assuming key positions in the governments, the media and even financial institutions.

It is time that Christians and Jews alike recognize the risk of the Leftist/Marxist – Islamist alliance. The "progressive Jews" and "progressive Christians" represented by the likes of Jim Wallis and his Sojourners and leftist Democratic candidates such as Barack Hussein Obama will lead ultimately to the Islamization of the West. This is important for all Christians to know, and particularly for Evangelical Christians whom Obama is actively courting for political purposes.

"De-funding" Islamic terror must become a top priority. As Saudi authorities discovered last week when they prevented what could have been a devastating attack on their oil infrastructure, lip service to cutting off the flow of Wahabbi petrodollars to Sunni terror groups and turning a blind eye to Iranian terrorism is an invitation to catastrophe. The plot was apparently discovered by allied intelligence in Iraq. Good thing temporarily for those of us who already feel the pain at the pump.

David J. Jonsson is the author of Clash of Ideologies The Making of the Christian and Islamic Worlds, Xulon Press 2005. His new book: Islamic Economics and the Final Jihad: The Muslim Brotherhood to the Leftist/Marxist - Islamist Alliance (Salem Communications (May 30, 2006). He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in physics. He worked for major corporations in the United States and Japan and with multilateral agencies that brought him to more that fifteen countries with significant or majority populations who are Muslim. These exposures provided insight into the basic tenants of Islam as a political, economic and religious system. He became proficient in Islamic law (Shariah) through contract negotiation and personal encounter. David can be reached at: djonsson2000@yahoo.co.uk

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